The character wins the loyalty of an animal. The spell functions only if the character actually wishes to be the animal's friend. If the character is not willing to treat the animal as a the spell fails. An animal's loyalty is natural (not magical) and lasting.

The character can teach the befriended animal three specific tricks or tasks for each point of Intelligence it possesses. They cannot be complex (complex tricks require the Handle Animal skill).

At most, the character can have animal friends whose Hit Dice total no more than twice the character's caster level (though the demands of adventuring generally restrict a character to half that number).

The character may dismiss animal friends to enable the character to befriend new ones.